HireRight Releases 2012 Employment Screening Benchmarking Report

IRVINE, Calif., June 21, 2012 – Despite high unemployment statistics, employers report they are challenged to find the right talent for key positions, according to the HireRight 2012 Employment Screening Benchmarking Report, a survey and study of employment background checking, drug and health screening, and employment eligibility verification programs. HireRight, a world leader in employment screening, has released the fifth annual report today, providing extensive insight into employment screening, hiring, and talent management challenges and common practices. The report is based on a survey of over 2,200 HR, talent management, recruiting, security, safety and operations professionals from large, medium and small employers, in a broad range of industries from around the world. The Benchmarking Report can be accessed at www.hireright.com/benchmarking.

“The HireRight Benchmarking Report provides employers with a peer-based framework to evaluate their own policies and programs in order to identify strengths, potential weaknesses and areas for process improvement. It also provides extensive insights into over-arching trends and issues related to employment and hiring,” said Rob Pickell, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of strategy.

The report indicates guarded optimism around hiring as over 70 percent of respondents expect to hire new workers in 2012, but many of those anticipating growth of less than 5 percent. Supporting this hiring outlook is that the top business challenge for 47 percent of respondents is finding, retaining and developing quality talent. This concern outweighed cost-cutting, which was last year’s top-ranked business challenge and dropped to third place at 24 percent this year. In spite of a sluggish economy, organizations are still having difficulty finding the right talent and skills needed to compete.

The emphasis on finding quality talent puts employment screening center stage due to its value in improving the quality of hire and supports why screening is almost ubiquitous in large and mid-sized employers. In this year’s study, 67 percent of respondents stated the top benefit background checks provide is to improve the quality of hire. Further demonstrating the importance of conducting checks is that approximately 70 percent of respondents reported they have uncovered a falsehood on an applicant’s resume.

While screening has become a standard part of the hiring process, legislative and regulatory changes are driving employers to evaluate and adjust their screening policies and practices. Some of the key areas being impacted by emerging legislation that are explored in the Benchmarking Report are social media screening; the use of credit checks in employment screening; and the impact of medical marijuana legislation on drug testing policies.

Social media is an area that can be fraught with issues and risks. According to the survey, while 61 percent of respondents report using or planning to use social media for recruiting, only 15 percent report using social media for background checking. Of those that currently use social media for employment screening, only 23 percent have a formal policy in place governing how those screens are conducted. As Maryland and other states enact and consider new legislation governing how social media can be used in hiring decisions, a lack of a carefully constructed policy leaves the organizations vulnerable to a range of potential liabilities.

“This year’s Benchmarking Report provides a good overview of the talent management landscape, revealing the hiring outlook, how regulatory changes are impacting screening programs and the top trends and issues driving background checks,” said Pickell. “The report also provides important industry statistics related to the growth of global screening, screening the extended workforce, workplace violence, drug testing, and I-9 management and E-Verify. This data helps organizations evaluate their screening programs, security and overall quality of hire.”

About HireRight
HireRight is a leading provider of on-demand employment background screening, drug and health screening and employment eligibility solutions that help employers automate, manage and control screening and related programs. Many companies, including more than one-third of the Fortune 500, trust HireRight because the company delivers customer-focused solutions that provide greater efficiency and faster results. HireRight also provides pre-integrated employment screening services through e-recruiting solutions from top providers such as Oracle, Taleo, Kenexa, SAP, PeopleAdmin, HealthcareSource, HRsmart, and SilkRoad. HireRight, Inc. is an Altegrity company with worldwide headquarters located in Irvine, California and offices and affiliates around the globe. For more information, visit the company’s web site at www.hireright.com.